Sabbatai Zevi
1626 – 1676 Ottoman (Sephardic Jewish) Self-proclaimed messiah, kabbalist
Would-be messiah whose movement swept the Jewish world before his forced conversion to Islam.
- Religion
- Judaism; converted to Islam under duress in 1666
- Affiliations
- Smyrna (Izmir); Sabbatean movement
Sabbatai Zevi proclaimed himself the messiah and, guided by the theologian Nathan of Gaza, ignited a mass movement across Jewish communities in the 1660s. Arrested by the Ottoman authorities in 1666, he chose conversion to Islam over death, throwing his followers into crisis. A secret Sabbatean underground persisted for generations, and some converts, the Donmeh, outwardly kept Islam while holding to his teachings.
In the timeline
- 1665 Sabbatai Zevi proclaimed as Messiah central figure
- 1665 Sabbatai Zevi proclaimed the Messiah central figure
- 1666 Sabbatai Zevi converts to Islam central figure